Project description

Vision is our main sensory input, on which we depend strongly in our daily lives. When vision is malfunctioning, the quality of life reduces enormously. One important aspect of vision is the control of eye movements by the oculomotor system. If this system malfunctions, nystagmus (oscillating small amplitude eye movements) occur and vision will be strongly impaired. Finding the cause of the nystagmus is therefore not only of high scientific interest but also of great clinical and societal relevance.

A new ambitious collaborative project of the Kamermans and the De Zeeuw labs studies the cause of nystagmus and the related reduced visual acuity. We recently showed that infantile nystagmus has a retinal origin (Winkelman et al., Plos Biology, 2019; www.kamermans.net/nystagmus.mp4). This discovery led to a paradigm shift in the field. What we do not know is how nystagmus develops, what the cause is of the reduced visual acuity and how we can cure nystagmus and the visual acuity loss. To fill this gap we will use mouse models where we can genetically manipulate the retinal mechanism inducing infantile nystagmus. We will measure eye-movements, neuronal activity in the retina and the brain in various developmental stages and use behavioral test to determine the visual acuity of the mice.

You are:

An ambitious, highly motivated scientist with a PhD in neuroscience, medicine, (bio)physics or related fields and a few years of experience in recording single unit activity either electrophysiologically or by means of Ca-imaging in mouse brains. Preferably you have experience with behavioral assays with mice as well. Programming skills - in particular with Matlab or Python - will be very useful. Knowledge of the visual system and especially the retina is highly appreciated. You are a team player and comfortable communicating, presenting and writing in English.

Fixed-term contract: One to three Years.

We offer:

• State of the art infrastructure.
• Excellent technical support.
• A stimulating, international, strongly multidisciplinary and collaborative research environment.

The environment

The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (www.nin.nl) is the country's leading fundamental neuroscience research institute in the international and progressive city of Amsterdam. It provides a critical mass of scientists (spanning more than 27 nationalities) and neuroscience facilities, in a highly interactive, dynamic, multi-cultural environment, with English as the working language.

Appointment

A position is for a period of 3 years. The first appointment is for one year with the option for an extension for the remaining period pending on an evaluation. Because of the upcoming the retirement of Prof. Dr. Kamermans, active support will be given to the candidate for the acquisition of additional grants to ensure continuation of this exciting research line.

Depending on education and relevant work experience, the gross monthly salary based on full-time employment varies between € 3413,- and € 4.670,- gross per month (salary scale 10), in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU), excluding 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus. We offer travel expenses, paid parental leave, flexible working hours, 30 days paid leave per year and help by finding a house.

Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience

The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (www.nin.nl) is the country's leading fundamental neuroscience research institute in the international and progressive city of Amsterdam. It provides a critical mass of scientists (spanning more than 27 nationalities) and neuroscience facilities, in a highly interactive, dynamic, multi-cultural environment, with English as the working language.

Retinal Signal Processing

Vision is our main sensory input, on which we depend strongly in our daily lives. When vision is malfunctioning, the quality of life reduces enormously. One important aspect of vision is the control of eye movements by the oculomotor system. If this system malfunctions, nystagmus (oscillating small amplitude eye movements) occur and vision will be strongly impaired. Finding the cause of the nystagmus is therefore not only of high scientific interest but also of great clinical and societal relevance.

A new ambitious collaborative project of the Kamermans and the De Zeeuw labs studies the cause of nystagmus and the related reduced visual acuity. We recently showed that infantile nystagmus has a retinal origin (Winkelman et al., Plos Biology, 2019; www.kamermans.net/nystagmus.mp4). This discovery led to a paradigm shift in the field. What we do not know is how nystagmus develops, what the cause is of the reduced visual acuity and how we can cure nystagmus and the visual acuity loss. To fill this gap we will use mouse models where we can genetically manipulate the retinal mechanism inducing infantile nystagmus. We will measure eye-movements, neuronal activity in the retina and the brain in various developmental stages and use behavioral test to determine the visual acuity of the mice.